clipsal mcb problem

talisker · 14 Aug 2009

i had a part p reg sparky wire up my bathroom fan today everything looked ok until i tested the lights and they were not working checked all the trips and it seem that one is faulty, the cu is a clipsal and none of the other makes of mcb will fit.
the cu was originally bought from cef but they tell me that clipsal mcbs are now obsolete, i've managed to find one that will work but i will have to order it online so it will take a few days.
my problem now is what to do with the lights, i've got two lighting circuits would it be ok to have both circuits on one mcb untill the new one arrives, the only other spare mcb i've got is a 40a.

ColJack · 14 Aug 2009

firstly, it's probably the sparky that stuffed the lights up so call him back to the job..

secondly how do you know that the mcb is faulty? it just won't reset? that may be a fault still on the circuit..

DO NOT!!!!!!!! put the lights on a 40A breaker.. are you stupid man? it's on a 6A now.. what makes you think that a 40A would be ok?

don't know if you can put the 2 light circuits together.. have no idea what the loading on the circuits are..
might be that you have 5A load on each circuit.. ( especially if you have downlighters )

talisker · 14 Aug 2009

i've worded it wrong i meant putting both circuits into one of the lighting 6a mcbs, i was just saying the only spare i've got is a 40a i know i can't use that
the circuit breaker hasn't tripped and i used a multi meter to test it and there was no power coming out of it, i tried swapping the wire into the other 6a and all works.
i'm not the sort of person to ring the sparky up and start giving him stick as i'm sure that the breaker giving up would have just been a coincadence.

ColJack · 14 Aug 2009

is it the breaker for the circuit he was working on?

kai · 14 Aug 2009

Clipsal breakers are on sale at my local Wickes store, for around a fiver each, including B6 rated ones...

streetlighter · 14 Aug 2009

Clipsal consumer units are cheap and nasty. Fitted one once before and never again was hardly any space inside to keep the wiring tidy and the MCBs seemed to be of poor quality.

talisker · 14 Aug 2009

ColJack said:
is it the breaker for the circuit he was working on?

yes it was on the circuit that he was testing it was only after he had left i realised the lights were not working, to be fair to the guy he offered to come back out and have a look but was me who said i would sort it if it only need a new mcb ,i didn't expect to have a problem sorting it out.

thanks kai i'll check my local wickes.

yes i agree streetlighter it does seem cheap and nasty, i didn't know any better at the time i just went to CEF and thats what they supplied me with, i'm going to look into having it changed.

Taylortwocities · 15 Aug 2009

So you don't have any volts coming out of the top of the contact breaker.

Take a minute and check that you have volts going into the BOTTOM of the CB. It may just be that the busbar is not making contact with the CB for some reason.

As I always say to Mrs Twocities: "Be careful - its live down there"

spark1 · 15 Aug 2009

Do all the checks as previously mentioned. If the breaker is deffo U.S then just double up into the other 6A breaker until you get the new one....dont leave it like this though !. The only possible problem you may encounter in a domesict property ,as I take it yours is, is that if you have any external floodlights wired onto the lighting circuit then there is the slight chance the extra loading from this additional circuit could trip the breaker when the floods come on if you have many lights on inside the house. As I said though .unlikely ,and if it did trip through overload just switch off the floods till you get the new breaker.......Think the Spark should be returning to swap this though to be honest !

diynot

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.

Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

clipsal mcb problem

kai

Similar threads